Thread take-up lever for a sewing machine



United States Patent Marcel Fresard Petit-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland [72] Inventor 211 App]. No. 774,395

[22] Filed Nov. 8, 1968 [45] Patented Dec. 8, 1970 [73] Assignec Meflna S.A.

Fribourg, Switzerland a company of Switzerland [32] Priority Dec. 20, 1967 [3 3] Switzerland [3 l] No. 17997/67 [54] THREAD TAKE-UP LEVER FOR A SEWING MACHINE 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] 11.8. CI. 112/241 [51] Int. C1. D05b 49/00 [50] Field of Search 1 12/241- [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 320,857 6/1885 Drumm et al 112/246X 327,410 9/1885 Ranney 112/247X 842,161 1/1907 Ammerman 112/246 Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-George H. Krizmanich Attorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen ABSTRACT: The thread takeup lever comprises a wire mounted in a synthetic plastic member. The wire includes two resilient arms that project from the member, the free ends of which define the thread eye.

THREAD TAKE-UP LEVER FOR A SEWING MACHINE The invention relates to a thread takeup lever for a sewing machine.

It is not only desirable that takeup levers should be as simple in design and as inexpensive to manufacture as possible; but it is also advantageous that these levers, since they must be accelerated up and down very quickly during sewing, be very light in weight.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a thread takeup lever that fulfills these three objectives.

An object of the invention is a thread takeup lever, the body of which is at least partly composed of a metal wire.

This and other objects will be apparent from the following detailed description of several embodiments of the invention.

The invention will be described, with reference to the. accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view partly in cross section of one form of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken along line lI-ll of FIG. 1;

3 FIG. 3 is a side view in section of a second form of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a side view, in crosssection, of a third embodiment of the invention. t i

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the embodiment comprises a body consisting essentially of a metal wirel, such as piano wire. As shown inFlG. 1, the wire I is bent at 2 so as to form two adjacent arms 3 and 4; and a bush 5 is constrained in the bend. The bush accepts a crank controlling the thread takeup lever and driven by the upper horizontal shaft of the sewing machine. A shaft 6 provided with a groove 7 is held between the two arms 3 and 4 at the bend 8 of the thread takeup lever. The shaft 6 enables the thread takeup lever to be pivoted on an arm (not shown) that in turn is pivotally connected to the sewing machine casing.

The arm 4 of the wire 1 has an end 9 bent in the shape of a U, to form an eye 11 for the thread. The adjacent end 10 of the arm 3 bears resiliently against the opening of the U to close it. The end 10 projects slightly beyond the end 9, so that the thread can be put into the eye by forcing it laterally I member 12, enclosing part of the wire 1, the bush 5, and the shaft 6. Of the wire arms 3 and 4, only the ends, in order to keep their springiness, are not enclosed in the plastic member. The latter thus makes extremely rigid that part of the thread takeup lever between the bush 5 and the shaft 6, the two pivots of the lever. I

The construction of the embodiment just described is particularly simple and light, thereby reducing the inertia of a part that must move very rapidly up and down during sewing.

In FIG. 3 is shown a second form of the thread takeup lever, the body of which is entirely composed of a metal wire 1. The bush 5 and the shaft 6 arefixed to the wire by welding or by the cement known under the registered trade mark "Araldite. This form of the invention, as does the previous embodiment, incorporates two arms 3 and 4,of which the two ends 9 and 10 form the thread eye, the thread being inserted as explained in connection with the previous embodiment.

A third form of the invention is shown in FIG. 4, the major portion of the body of the lever carrying the bush 5 and shaft 6 being a molded or cast member 12, depending on whether the latter is made of a synthetic plastic or of a light metal. The metal wire 1 embodies the two arms 3 and 4 and the thread eye 11. In this embodiment, the latter is completely closed, the wire fonning a loop. This embodiment can also be modified so that the ends 9 and 10 form exactly the same kind of eye as do the first two formsof the invention, in which case the two wire arms 3 and 4 can be separate ieces of wire or formed from a smgle piece of wire that has a end located within the member The scope of the invention admits of various other variations. In the form shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, for example, the singlepiece of bent wire can be replaced by two separate pieces held in the member 12.

Further in accordance with the invention, the thread takeup lever can be composed of a piece of wire forming a single arm, the free end of which arm is bent to form a closed loop that presses resiliently against the arm so that the thread can be easily inserted.

Although the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, the scope of, and the breadth of protection afforded to, the invention are limited solely by the appended claims.

I claim:

I. A thread takeup lever comprising a pair of arms, said pair of arms each including a portion adjoining and parallel to the other, one of said pair of arms including a substantially U- shaped portion having a free end, the other of said pair of arms including a free end portion pressing against said free end of said Ushaped portion and cooperating therewith to constitute an eye for carrying a thread, said U-shaped portion and said freeend portion being resilient for being spread apart by lateral introduction of athread between said arms into said y said arms are integrally connected remote from said eye and are constituted by a single continuous length of wire.

3. The thread takeup lever as defined in claim 1, wherein said freeend of said U-shaped portion and said free end portion of the other of said pair of arms are relatively inclined to provide a V-shaped passage for guiding the thread into the eye.

4. The thread takeup lever as defined in claim 1, including a member supporting and enclosing a part if said pair of arms remote from the eye thereof.

, 5. The thread takeup lever as defined in claim 1, including two pivots spaced along said pair of arms and interposed therebetween and secured thereto said pair of arms being constituted by a single metallic wire having a continuous, unbroken bend to constitute said pair of arms at a portion thereof remote from the takeup lever eye.

2 The thread takeup lever as defined in claim 1, wherein 

